Chicago, IL – April, 2020 – The National Certification Corporation (NCC) is pleased to announce the pass rates achieved for Phase I of their newly launched subspecialty certification exams and congratulates all candidates who were willing to test during the first phase of introductory testing.

Care of the Extremely Low Birth Weight Neonate (C-ELBW)A competency-based examination that tests specialty knowledge and the application of that knowledge for licensed health care professionals in the US and Canada, who provide care to acutely and critical ill extremely low birth weight neonates and their families within an intensive care environment to improve overall outcomes. Phase I and Phase II are complete and the pass rates for both phases:86.7% pass rate

Neonatal Neuro-Intensive Care (C-NNIC)A competency-based examination that tests specialty knowledge and the application of that knowledge for licensed health care professionals in the US and Canada, who provide neurological care to at-risk or impaired neonates within an intensive care environment to improve overall outcomes.83.5% pass rate

Introductory Phase I for these exams was launched in September 2019 with 294 multidisciplinary health care professionals registering for the C-ELBW exam and 105 registering for the C-NNIC exam. Examinations were administered in November and December 2019. The final Phase II was completed for C-ELBW in March of 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic testing is currently on hold and phase II for C-NNIC can not be completed at this time.

For an exam to meet rigorous national standards, a passing score cannot be arbitrarily selected. Passing scores must clearly differentiate candidates with special knowledge from those who cannot demonstrate such knowledge. The NCC test evaluation process is designed to meet the goal of assessing the specialty knowledge of health care professionals using psychometrically sound and legally defensible methods that support the overall testing goals of validity, reliability, and fairness.

The completed examinations were analyzed based on psychometrics and national standard setting teams reviewed the results. Based on the provided analysis and review, NCC scored and released the results for both phase I exams on March 16, 2020 and released the scores for phase II C-ELBW on April 1, 2020

ABOUT NCC:

NCC is a non-profit organization committed to promoting quality health care to women, neonates and their families. NCC provides certification and educational programs for nurses, physicians and other licensed health care professionals in the obstetric, gynecologic and neonatal specialties. More than 175,000 licensed health care professionals have been awarded prestigious NCC certifications since its inception in 1975.